Christian has fond memories of working on the original film in the Star Wars franchise.

Its low budget required the crew to innovate when it came to making props and the set at Elstree Studios in England and on location.

Scrap metal from aircraft was used in the set designs. Lightsabers, the weapon of choice of the movies' Jedi knights and villainous Sith lords, were also made from whatever Christian could lay his hands on.

The lost film

Black Angel was shown in cinemas in the UK, Scandinavia, Japan and Australia as part of screenings of the 1980 Star Wars feature The Empire Strikes Back.

Written and directed by Roger Christian, it is an Arthurian tale of a knight who rescues a princess while he is returning home from the Crusades.

It was shot in Scotland on a shoestring budget. The funding for it included a £25,000 grant from the UK government.

Christian and his crew of 10 headed into the Scottish hills in a Volkswagen campervan, a horse trailer and a small van.

The locations included Eilean Donan Castle, Bernera Barracks in Glenelg, Loch Eck in Argyll and a swimming pool in Dunoon.

After 1980, the negatives of Black Angel disappeared and were thought to have been lost forever before they were discovered in an archive.

Earlier this year, the short was shown at special screenings in Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

He said: "George (Lucas, the Star Wars creator and director) needed a lightsaber to hang on Luke Skywalker's belt for the scenes filmed on location in Tunisia, after Obi Wan Kenobi had presented Luke with his father's lightsaber.

"To get a real and used look to everything I was making all the set dressings, weapons and props from found objects and adapting them.

"I knew the laser sword, as it was first known, would be the iconic image of Star Wars. It was as important as Excalibur in the legend of King Arthur.

"I searched and searched for something suitable to adapt and, as time was running out before the first day of shooting, I found a dusty box of old Graflex handles in a photographer's shop in London and I knew I had hit the Holy Grail."

The handles were for the flash attached to Graflex cameras, a type favoured by Press photographers.

Christian said: "What I held in my hand was exactly as I imagined a laser sword would be - weighty, chromed body with a red button and a strangely shaped clip at the end that held the chrome reflector that looked like a function that could generate a laser beam."

The maker of the original lightsaber has taken a keen interest in the latest version, seen briefly in the newly released teaser.

Christian said: "Looking at the lightsaber in the trailer it has to be a found, older one as the blade is rougher, it's flame-like, so not as smooth as the newer blades.

"The snowy environment would hint that someone has found an ancient saber so I surmised this is an older laser sword.

"For sure there is a lot of debate going to be blogged now about the little blade protection side flames. They look cool, but aren't practical, and that was the original Star Wars mantra, everything had to look used and real. George wanted it that nothing ever stood out as designed, just a used universe that was real.

"So there has to be a reason coming for this laser sword. J J Abrams would have considered every visual in this first teaser."